1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard, and more particularly to a keyboard with metal keys and the manufacturing thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional manufacturing method of a keyboard generally is to print necessary color digits and symbols on a polycarbonate (PC) film first, and then cause the PC film to be formed to provide with a several projection portions by means of a vacuum drawing mold so as to be used as keys. Next, inner parts of the projection portions are filled with a PC material in the mold and the PC film is then cut to form an external form of a keyboard by stamping. Furthermore, the PC material is caused to combine with a rubber layer through an ultraviolet (UV) resin to form the keyboard.
Taiwan patent application No. 096,110,141 applied by the applicant of the present invention discloses a method for combining inmold decoration technology with a manufacturing of a keyboard with keys having a higher height and smaller interval and a keyboard made thereby, allowing a plastic film with a plurality of projections manufactured by inmold decoration and injection technologies to be cut into a plurality of projection particles and bottoms of the projection particles are combined with an elastic material layer to form a keyboard. The interval between each two projection particles of the keyboard is smaller than the one between each two projections of the plastic film so as to be convenient to manufacture a keyboard with keyboards having a height satisfying consumers by means of inmold decoration and injection technologies.
Vacuum electroplating or sputtering the plastic keys is needed if the plastic keys are caused to have a metal color. For example, Taiwan Patent No. I257,564 discloses a metal keyboard and the manufacturing thereof, a thermoplastic resin is utilized to form a key by an injection molding process and a conductive layer is then formed on one surface of the key. Next, a function sign is marked on the conductive layer and a metal layer, which is formed by an electrolytic plating process, sputtering process, chemical vapor deposition process or electroless plating process, is formed on the conductive layer besides the function sign.
The manufacturing method for forming the metal layer on a plastic key by the manufacturing process such as electroplating or sputtering mentioned above is rather time consuming. Besides, the quality of the plastic key with the metal color made by the process such as electroplating still is worse than a metal key made from a metal sheet.